The Nastiest Record Label Disputes of All Time

Heard of Death Grips, the experimental/industrial/hip-hop/techno/unclassifiable band that shares most of its sonic qualities with large-scale artillery barrages? You’d know if you had because right now you’d either find yourself humming the bassline from “System Blower” or curled up in the corner of the room in a fetal position.

Composed of Hella drummer Zach Hill, keyboard and sampler artist Andy “Flatlander” Morin, and rapper/uncontrollable avatar of fury Stefan “MC Ride” Burnett, Death Grips was signed to Epic Records after their frenetic live performances and their 2011 mixtape Exmilitary wowed critics everywhere. This may not have been the best idea.

Working with remarkable speed, Death Grips released their debut album The Money Store in April of 2012, simultaneously announcing a followup NO LOVE DEEP WEB to be released in October the same year. A mere six months between releases was way too hasty for Epic, who wanted more time for the Money Store’s notoriety to spread by word of mouth as soon as the people who listened to it got out of the hospital.

Epic’s official statement was that the album would be pushed back to 2013, but the band itself stuck to the original release date. The standoff lasted until the first of October, when Death Grips announced by Facebook/Twitter/Soundcloud that not only was the album complete, you could download it for free, and it came with a free piece of album art featuring the words NO LOVE DEEP WEB written on somebody’s (well, probably not MC Ride’s) boner.

Epic promptly dropped the band, and the album (somewhat lighter and softer than Money Store, if only because it’d be hard to be heavier and harder than Money Store) quickly became the most popular legal download on BitTorrent. Interested parties can also download the album and read lyrics on the official Death Grips site (http://thirdworlds.net) if they’re mentally prepared to stare at a few dongs.

DEATH GRIPS KEEPS DICKIN’ AROUND

Heard of Death Grips, the experimental/industrial/hip-hop/techno/unclassifiable band that shares most of its sonic qualities with large-scale artillery barrages? You’d know if you had because right now you’d either find yourself humming the bassline from “System Blower” or curled up in the corner of the room in a fetal position.

Composed of Hella drummer Zach Hill, keyboard and sampler artist Andy “Flatlander” Morin, and rapper/uncontrollable avatar of fury Stefan “MC Ride” Burnett, Death Grips was signed to Epic Records after their frenetic live performances and their 2011 mixtape Exmilitary wowed critics everywhere. This may not have been the best idea.

Working with remarkable speed, Death Grips released their debut album The Money Store in April of 2012, simultaneously announcing a followup NO LOVE DEEP WEB to be released in October the same year. A mere six months between releases was way too hasty for Epic, who wanted more time for the Money Store’s notoriety to spread by word of mouth as soon as the people who listened to it got out of the hospital.

Epic’s official statement was that the album would be pushed back to 2013, but the band itself stuck to the original release date. The standoff lasted until the first of October, when Death Grips announced by Facebook/Twitter/Soundcloud that not only was the album complete, you could download it for free, and it came with a free piece of album art featuring the words NO LOVE DEEP WEB written on somebody’s (well, probably not MC Ride’s) boner.

Epic promptly dropped the band, and the album (somewhat lighter and softer than Money Store, if only because it’d be hard to be heavier and harder than Money Store) quickly became the most popular legal download on BitTorrent. Interested parties can also download the album and read lyrics on the official Death Grips site (http://thirdworlds.net) if they’re mentally prepared to stare at a few dongs.